30 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 



the wax is exuded from the body of the worker bee, 

 and formed in thin flakes in what are termed the wax 

 pockets, of which four may be observed in the fore- 

 going engraving, on each side of the centre line on 

 the under-part of the abdomen, and which are, in fact, 

 the folds of the shell-like plates covering the abdominal 

 rings. 



The wax can only be secreted when the temperature 

 of the hive is above a certain point, and during the 

 time of secretion the bees appear to hang in clusters 

 or festoons, in a state of absolute repose. In the 

 height of the honey season, or so long as new comb is 

 required, this secretion goes on night and day. Lang- 

 stroth says that "careful experiments prove that from 

 thirteen to twenty pounds of honey are required to 

 make a single pound of wax." This was for a long 

 time accepted as a well-ascertained fact ; but within the 

 last few years some American and English apiarists 

 have begun to doubt if quite so much honey is con- 

 sumed, and lately it has been stated, on the strength of 

 some isolated experiments, that the bees do not con- 

 sume more than eight pounds of honey in order to 

 secrete one pound of wax. Many more careful experi- 

 ments will be requisite before this can be satisfactorily 

 proved or disproved. In the meantime it may be 

 asserted that something between eight and twenty 

 pounds are required, but the exact quantity is still an 

 open question — the consensus of opinion points to 

 twelve pounds. 



ADULTERATED BEESWAX, AND HOW TO DETECT IT. 



With the growing scarcity of beeswax during the 

 past twenty years and the consequent increase in price, 

 came the opportunity for the adulterator. At first the 

 adulteration was carried on in a very clumsy style and 

 easily detected, tallow and resin being chiefly used. 

 But of late years the fraudulent imitation of the pure 

 article has been so cleverly made that except by experts 

 or by direct tests it could not be detected. 



The usual adulterants nowadays, and which are so 



